It is well known that through disease, arteries of humans are susceptible to the development of distended sacs known as aneurysms which are susceptible to rupture. Traditionally, aneurysms are treated by radical surgical intervention. This approach is risky for the patient and is, in many cases, not feasible due to other pre-existing disease states in the patient. More recently there have been a number of proposals for the intraluminal placement of an intraluminal graft bridging the aneurysms and thereby isolating an active arterial duct from the aneurysmal sac. One such arrangement is described in Australian Patent Application No. 78035/94.
Difficulties arise in the placement of such intraluminal grafts when the aneurysm extends from a single artery into one or more divergent arteries. In this case a so called "trouser graft" must be used. In such a graft a single tubular body bifurcates into two smaller tubular bodies. The intention being that the single tubular body is placed in the single artery and the two smaller tubular bodies are respectively placed in the two divergent arteries (for example, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,443 to Barone). In practice it has proven very difficult to effectively place a trouser graft.
The present invention relates to a new method and catheter designed to facilitate the placement of an intraluminal graft in a bifurcating artery.